Page 178 of A Soul to Guide

He didn’t have to join her. He could have stayed near the shoreline, but he’d promised to do this with her. Merikh was thankful for that, as he was surprisingly enjoying himself.

Raewyn hadn’t wanted to do this yesterday. The water had been chillier than usual, and he informed her the loose sediment from the surface world above the Veil would need at least a day to settle.

She’d worked on one of the final steps of her spell preparation while he’d snuck to the closest town to steal some belts to finish his back quill guard.

He turned his sight up to the flowerpot currently sitting on a ledge of the cliff wall. Most of the tulips had died from her attempts at working the stone and the flowers together. Two remained, and even now, one was glowing, despite the sun shining on it.

She said by the time the sun begins to truly fall away, it’ll be done.

Apparently, the issue she’d had in the Elven realm was that when she put the stone in the sunlight for even a second, it had been too strong. She’d been impatient, despite it being late summer there, and she’d thought she would be quick enough.

It had ended in an accident that almost killed her and her colleagues.

However, Earth didn’t have three suns. Even in the summer, the solar radiation, heat, and light were nowhere near the same. She even said the winters in Nyl’theria were warmer than this.

Fucking hell, I hope my fur keeps me cool.He’d heard shaving certain creatures could make it harder for them to regulate their temperatures, so perhaps he shouldn’t try that.

Plus, he’d look weird if he shaved himself.

Either way, she was taking her time measuring the amount of sun that the stone, currently wrapped in a tulip’s petals, needed. It hadn’t been enough yesterday, but she thought it might be by the end of today.

He’d offered for her to swim in the meantime. When she grabbed his tail to yank herself closer, which felt awfully playful, he was glad he’d done so.

She didn’t grab his arm, since he wasn’t wearing his new guards, and instead waited for him to hold his hand out to her again. He followed hers until they clasped.

She dragged herself closer until her breasts bumped against his hard chest.

“I’m sorry you’re not having any fun,” she said, although her expression lacked any truth in her apology.

Her small smile revealed that she was enjoying this too much, and his tail flicked under the water.

“Who says I’m not having fun?” he rebuffed, holding her elbows, since she didn’t seem to want to part right then. “I’ve been considering drowning you this entire time.”

His tone was filled with humour, and the urge to chuckle tickled his chest when she glared his way.

“You better not. I don’t want to get my hair wet; otherwise, I’ll have to wash it.” Then she fiddled with some of the fur on his chest. “It’s just... you’re standing there while I swim.”

“I told you I sink.” He tilted his head slightly. “I can pretend, if that will make you feel better.”

Her lips curled. “No, that’s fine. I think it’s odd you can’t float. Even Demons can swim.”

“Well, I’m not a Demon,” he answered plainly.

Her warm smile died, and she turned away from him.

“About that. I wanted to talk to you about something,” she uttered quietly, her expression grim. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to bring it up with you for a while, but I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”

His hackles rose, and he had to forcefully make his fur and quills relax. He didn’t want her to accidentally reach out and hurt herself.

“Should I be scared?” He chuckled warmly to hide his apprehension.

“How much do you know about Weldir?”

His head cocked, while a swirl of anger spun in his chest, as it usually did when hearing his ‘creator’s’ name.

“I know enough.”

“What about how he was... born?” She swam casually around him, her anchor, and her face grew solemn.

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